Faith in action

Faith is a noun, complete trust or confidence in someone or something. strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. But, let’s take faith and put it into action. That is what you see tonight a progression of faith.

Open your bibles to Jn4, put something there and then flip over to Jm2 with me. Let’s look at faith (verbing) together as we set up for tonight.

Faith working (verbing) (Jm2:18-20)

Jm2:18-20 “18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”

Faith working (verbing; exampled) (Jm2:21-23)

Jm2:21-23 “21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.”

Q- have you ever acted out of desperation, like all hope is lost and you are willing to do anything?

In our passage tonight we will see a progression

Desperation in crisis (Crisis faith)

That that goes into action becomes confident faith

And confident faith in action becomes contagious faith

First, we need to start with the passage and glean from that first, then look at those points.

John 4:43–44 NASB95

43 After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

John 4:45–46 NASB95

45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast. 46 Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum.

John 4:47–48 NASB95

47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”

John 4:49–50 NASB95

49 The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off.

John 4:51–52 NASB95

51 As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”

John 4:53–54 NASB95

53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and his whole household. 54 This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

OK, what sticks out to you in this passage? Then we will break down, glean from it then get to the points of tonight’s message.

Gleaning from the scripture

Where was Jesus coming from after two days (v.43)? You will have to look back on this some.

How was Jesus reception in Galilee (v.45)?

Who came to Jesus in Cana of Galilee (v.46)? And why did he come to him (vv.46-47)?

In looking at (v.48) what does Jesus say is needed for them to believe?

What is the man’s plea (v.49)?

What did the official, nobleman, do after hearing the words of Jesus (v.50)?

What did the slaves tell the official about his son (v.51)?

When did the healing happen when you look at (v.53)?

(Transition) I know, lots of good questions there, some took some thought, but all from the scripture itself. It is vital we learn to pull from the scripture and not assume or put into the scripture our thoughts. Our goal is to learn God’s thoughts.

Jesus returns to Galilee

Jesus may not be from Galilee, but He grew up. He never connected with His country, Judea (where Bethlehem is). But it is here that our story unfolds.

John 4:44 NLT

44 He himself had said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown.

In looking at this verse (44) you can draw an assumption that Jesus is speaking of Galilee, but other versions say “own country” and his Country is Judea, so it’s inconclusive, but I needed to point out that not all scripture is crystal clear, some is part of the narrative like this.

Now look again at (v.45) and the reception Jesus had

John 4:45 NASB95

45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.

Why did the Galileans receive Him according to (v.45)?

Keep the word “see, seeing” in mind as we go through this tonight.

We do not know exactly why Jesus came back to Cana of Galilee, but we know He is on a divine time schedule now (going through Samaria was proof of that). Could it be that he wants to do some cultivation of the see planted from the wedding? Maybe get some R&R time? Maybe it was so Nathaniel could visit his family, since he was from there.

(Transition) Now this leads us to the main points, main section of our passage tonight and where we want to spend the rest of our time.

Crisis faith

Everyone has faith in something, and sometimes our faith has to be activated and we need to do something with it. Sometimes it is unconventional things, for the nobleman, the official it is very unconventional.

John 4:46–47 NKJV

46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

A nobleman (official) heard about Jesus and came to him from Capernaum

What lengths someone is willing to go for their child. He is an official, he could have ordered for someone to bring Jesus to him, but no, he travelled about 20 miles to see Jesus and plead with Jesus directly.

Jesus first miracle in Cana was at the request of a mother, his own mother; the 2nd we are about to see is from the request of a father. One is in person, the other will be from a distance. both were done privately not publically, but yet the nobleman had heard about Jesus, hum, do you think news travels fast about this prophet from Galilee?

(Transition) So, we have seen the lengths of crisis faith, now we will look and see confident faith. Faith that is in action.

Confident faith

As our story of desperation continues to unfold, let’s see how crisis faith changes to confident faith. Not just faith, but faith in action.

John 4:48–49 GNB

48 Jesus said to him, “None of you will ever believe unless you see miracles and wonders.” 49 “Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.”

John 4:50 GNB

50 Jesus said to him, “Go, your son will live!” The man believed Jesus’ words and went.

From the nobleman to the crowd, a gentle rebuke (v.48)

Jesus is speaking directly to the nobleman, but addressing the crowd, how do we know there is crowd? (look back for the answer)

There is another point you can see, learn from about the nobleman (v.49), what is it?

The man had belief in Jesus, that Jesus could heal his son.

Do you know you can come to belief without even knowing you believe?

Everyone believes in God, God has made himself evident, all are without excuse according to Rom1. They may not have faith in God, but they believe, even atheists believe in something, just don’t call it God.

This man believed in Jesus and the power that Jesus had that could heal his son that is why he kept imploring Jesus to come before he dies. Oh wait, his belief only went so far, only if Jesus went, and only if they got there before the son died.

John 4:50 GNB

50 Jesus said to him, “Go, your son will live!” The man believed Jesus’ words and went.

The nobleman believed Jesus words and put that faith into action (v.50)

It was not enough for the man to believe in Jesus, he had to now do something with that belief, he had to go.

BJ Clarke a commentator I read says this about this verse

“Had our Lord gone with him, as he wished, his unbelief could not have been fully removed; as he would have still thought that our Lord’s power could not reach from Cana to Capernaum; in order to destroy unbelief at once, and bring him into the fulness of faith of His supreme power, he cures him, being apparently absent, by that energy through which fills both the heavens and the earth.”

The boy was instantly healed when Jesus spoke, or maybe it was when the man activated his faith and “went.” The man did not know it yet, but would soon.

The man had come to Jesus in crisis faith as many do come that way, when at the end of the road, end of the rope, or end of life in total desperation. Jesus does not turn people away. For the nobleman Jesus called for him to believe and to put that belief into action. And he did just that. Crisis faith had become confident faith, now let’s see how it progresses from there.

Contagious faith

Contagious, we are not talking about contagious disease, but: (of an emotion, feeling, or attitude) likely to spread to and affect others. Contagious Christianity is a great tool that God uses to spread the gospel.

Let’s look at the nobleman’s faith that becomes contagious

John 4:51–52 GNB

51 On his way home his servants met him with the news, “Your boy is going to live!” 52 He asked them what time it was when his son got better, and they answered, “It was one o’clock yesterday afternoon when the fever left him.”

John 4:53 GNB

53 Then the father remembered it was at that very hour that Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his family believed.

The question about the time, proves Jesus is over time; the distances proves that He is over space too. The man going proves his faith in Jesus.

The nobleman was so confident in the healing there is no mention of him rushing home to see if it were true, he knew it was true. His faith became contagious that others came to believe because of His faith and His testimony. Does that sound familiar, maybe a Samaritan woman who had faith, active faith, confident faith, that was contagious faith?

your faith may bring others to start to have faith, so they can place their faith in Jesus! You can be and should be God’s instrument of faith in action!

On a side note, this is not the only miracle that covered over space. Jesus healed the Centurion's servant (Mt8:5-13) and the Canaanites daughter (Mt15:21-28). Both of them Gentiles, where were considered “at a distance” according to Eph2:12-13, but Jesus broke down that dividing wall! - We do not know for sure if the nobleman was a Jew or a Gentile, but with the area he was in was mostly a Gentile area, so I lean that way, but it is not definitive.

John 4:54 GNB

54 This was the second miracle that Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

This is the second sign in Galilee, Cana of Galilee, not the second sign period.

The first sign persuaded the disciples

The second sign persuaded the nobleman and his household.

The first one was at a celebration

The second was surrounding a tragedy.

God still shows signs, signs of a transformed life, signs of faith, or maybe you may say the fruit of faith. You are God’s billboard pointing to God’s word and God’s work!

For the nobleman the healing happened when he believed and acted on that belief, when he put faith into action. It was not the man’s work that did it, it was God’s work that was activated by the man’s faith! May we be a people of active faith as we leave here tonight.